1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus for manufacturing a capsule of vegetable gelatin. More particularly, the present invention relates to an apparatus for manufacturing a capsule of vegetable gelatin, in which the molded capsule is gradually cured through the curing process without abrupt temperature variation and the drying process is performed after the curing process has been performed for a predetermined period of time, thereby preventing the capsule from being torn or broken caused by the abrupt temperature variation during the curing and drying processes and allowing the capsule to have the desired hardness.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, gelatin is mainly used as a material to form a film of a capsule because the gelatin is readily dissolved in a human body and has the superior surface strength and the stable humidity adsorption/desorption property. In most cases, animal gelatin derived from the livestock is used.
However, since the animal gelatin mainly consists of animal protein, the capsule may not contain materials that react with the protein and may cause the allergy to the person who takes in the animal gelatin. In particular, the animal gelatin is not suitable for vegetarians. Further, the use of the animal gelatin is more reluctant due to the bovine spongiform encephalopathy and foot-and-mouth diseases, which are infected to humans from the livestock.
In this regard, recently, a vegetable capsule, which is prepared by mixing glycerin and purified water with vegetable materials, such as modified starch and carrageenan, has been suggested as a substitute for the animal capsule. However, as compared with the animal gelatin, the property of vegetable gelatin is easily changed, so the vegetable gelatin may not be easily prepared and the defect rate may increase in the process for preparing the vegetable gelatin. In addition, crack may be generated in the vegetable capsule after the vegetable capsule has been manufactured, so the stability and commercial value of the vegetable capsule may be degraded.
That is, if the apparatus for manufacturing the animal gelatin capsule is used for manufacturing the vegetable gelatin capsule, the vegetable gelatin capsule cannot be obtained due to the difference in the physical property between the animal gelatin capsule and the vegetable gelatin capsule. In detail, when feeding the animal gelatin, the animal gelatin is heated, so liquid-phase animal gelatin is fed while flowing due to the deadweight thereof However, since the vegetable gelatin has the high viscosity, the vegetable gelatin may not flow by the deadweight thereof, so the vegetable gelatin may not be fed in the form of a sheet having a uniform thickness. In addition, the animal gelatin can be stably dried even in the very-low temperature, but the physical property of the vegetable gelatin may be changed if the temperature is abruptly changed. Thus, the vegetable gelatin may not maintain the capsule shape. That is, the external appearance of the capsule may be deformed or the crack is generated in the capsule, so that the capsule is torn or broken.